This invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly, to a technology of detecting an abnormality in a computer with the use of a timer.
Server integration is expected to increase in scale with the improvement in the processing performance of servers by way of multi-core CPUs. It is also expected that the need for server integration methods (hereinafter referred to as server integration modules) of the partitioning type, which allows for a choice between sharing physical resources among logical servers (hereinafter LPARs) and allocating physical resources to respective LPARs in an exclusive manner, will grow as the providing of real-time services such as SaaS-type customer relationship management (CRM)/social networking service (SNS) (SaaS stands for Software as a Service) becomes popular.
The reliability demanded per server apparatus in the server integration environment described above is higher than in cases where a necessary level of computing ability is secured by putting in a large number of bare servers which are relatively inexpensive. One of methods that have hitherto been used to improve the reliability of a server apparatus is alive monitoring that uses a self-monitoring apparatus such as a watchdog timer (WDT) (hereinafter referred to as WDT timeout monitoring) (see, for example, JP 05-151027 A).